Adrian Heath, left, was named as the new head coach of Minnesota United FC, Tuesday, Nov. 29 2016 at the team's headquarters in Golden Valley. At right is Manny Lagos, Sporting Director for the team. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)
Adrian Heath, left, was named as the new head coach of Minnesota United FC, Tuesday, Nov. 29 2016 at the team’s headquarters in Golden Valley. At right is Manny Lagos, Sporting Director for the team. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)
By ANDY GREDER | agreder@pioneerpress.com |
PUBLISHED: January 26, 2017 at 3:17 pm | UPDATED: January 26, 2017 at 4:40 pm
Minnesota United is in the process of trading for midfielder Kevin Molino from Orlando City, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
United also will acquire goalkeeper Patrick McLain and give Orlando City $650,000 from two MLS funds, according to Alicia Rose DelGallo of the Sentinel. The trade could be one of the biggest deals in Major League Soccer history, she reported.
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United reportedly tried to trade for Molino during the Major League Soccer SuperDraft on Jan. 13, but the Loons’ offer of $500,000 in allocation money was turned down, according to FourFourTwo.
Heath, United’s new coach who coached Molino in Orlando City from 2011-16, declined to discuss the pursuit of Molino when he met with the media in Golden Valley last week. A United spokesman declined comment on a trade for Molino on Thursday from the club’s preseason training camp in Arizona.
Molino, 26, had 11 goals and eight assists in 30 games for Orlando City last season. Heath, who joined Orlando City as coach in 2010, coached Molino and the Lions until he was fired last July.
Given Molino’s production, he was a bargain last season with a guaranteed compensation of $121,000, according to numbers released by the MLS players’ union in September. Molina was dissatisfied with his contract, and Orlando had been shopping Molino to other clubs, a source said.
Molino, who is from Trinidad and Tobago, was Orlando City’s first MLS signing in 2014 before the Lions made their debut as an expansion franchise in MLS in 2015. He didn’t have a goal or assist in seven games during the 2015 season.
Molino was a standout on Heath’s Orlando teams in the third-tier United Soccer League. Molino was named USL MVP in 2012 and 2014, when he set a league record with 20 goals as Orlando won the regular-season title.
McLain, of Eau Claire, Wis., is a 6-foot-3 keeper who played in one game with the Chicago Fire in 2016. He earned $72,500 last season and was acquired by Orlando in the MLS re-entry draft. He played in two games with Chivas USA in 2013 before spending 2014 and 2015 in USL and collegiate soccer at Cal Poly.